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OU football: Utah gets great news, but Sooners get good news

The College Football Playoff committee delivered plenty of good news to Oklahoma football on Tuesday night. Just not the best news.

The committee still ranks Utah ahead of the Sooners. Still prefers the Utes’ dominance to OU’s superior schedule.

Now, some good news. It’s close. The committee’s rankings, No. 4 through No. 7 – Georgia, Utah, OU, Baylor, all 11-1 teams – were the most debated topic in the playoff war room at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine the last couple of days. That’s what chairman Rob Mullens said, and there’s no reason for him to lie.

“We spent considerable time on it, more time than anywhere else on the board,” Mullens said of the OU-Utah logjam. “There was plenty of debate.”

The case for each is not a mystery:

• Ten of Utah’s 11 wins have come by at least 18 points; only a 33-28 survival at Washington and a 30-23 loss at No. 22 Southern Cal were close.

• The Sooners have more good wins, starting with a 34-31 escape at Baylor on Nov. 16, but also a 34-16 win in Stillwater last Saturday against Oklahoma State, which still hangs in the rankings, at No. 25.

Some voters seem to prefer the ease of victory – OU had those three straight narrow wins over Iowa State, Baylor and TCU. Others no doubt preferred the tougher schedule – Utah has no wins over teams in the committee’s top 25.

Count me in the latter group. In fact, I thought the committee would jump the Sooners ahead of Utah this week. But even so, there is good news for the Sooners. Beat Baylor soundly, and both factions will be impressed.

“That's exactly the discussion,” said Mullens, the athletic director at Oregon. “Those are the factors. You just line them up, then we put a vote on what members see, how they feel those teams line up.”

The playoff has a history of elevating teams after championship Saturday. Ohio State jumped from No. 6 to No. 4 in 2014 after a 59-0 dismantling of Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game, with no team above the Buckeyes losing. Not that anyone should expect to beat Baylor 59-0 or even 29-0.

Beating Baylor by any margin for the second time in 22 days would be a solid achievement. And Mullens said the committee would duly note if the Sooners beat the Bears for a second time.

“Two wins,” Mullens said. “When you play them twice, it counts as two games. It’s two different locations.”

There’s more good news. Utah could lose to Oregon and relieve most of the anxiety from both Big 12 schools. Utah’s anxiety won’t dip even with a victory over the Ducks. The OU-Baylor winner will have an even more excellent addition to the resume’.

And we know that for sure because Mullens lumped in Baylor not just with OU and Utah, but even Georgia, which has victories over No. 9 Florida, No. 11 Auburn and No. 15 Notre Dame.

"We spent considerable time on four through seven, and we understand where those are this week and we'll look to see the games this weekend,” Mullens said. “There's a bunch of teams that are tightly matched."

So the good news came in bunches for OU, even if the best news was delivered to Utah.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.

Berry Tramel, a lifelong Oklahoman, sports fan and newspaper reader, joined The Oklahoman in 1991 and has served as beat writer, assistant sports editor, sports editor and columnist. Tramel grew up reading four daily newspapers — The Oklahoman,...
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